Kyoki Sakura
by LenisVox
Summary: OrochimaruOC. Romance. Rated M for violence, language, and adult themes. Life, when defined by the inevitability of death, can be lonely for those who find it less than inevitable. Chapter One is up.
1. Prelude

**Yay! You've clicked on my fanfic! Hugs for you!**

**As stated in the summary, this story is rated M for mature. If you're under 16, you shouldn't read it. I'm not a big fan of graphic sex scenes (well... not writing them, anyways), but you can expect to see plenty of swearing (in keeping with the general portrayal of sound village shinobi in the anime series) and a whole lot of graphic violence. I expect that I'll be having lots of fun writing some very gritty stuff for the later chapters and I won't be sparing the details because frankly, they're just too damn fun to write. :) Also, there are a lot of adult themes. Although I highly doubt I'll actually write out any sex scenes, there will be some definite sexual overtones and a couple of obvious references. Even without the violence and the language, I'd probably have rated this story M anyways... just to be safe. Other than that, I can't think of anything that should be too offensive. Don't expect a morally uplifting ending or anything. I'd have to beat the crap out of myself if I let Orochimaru or any other baddie go all soft and squishy and nice on my watch.**

**Finally, and probably most importantly, I am in desperate need of betas for this story. I don't need help with grammar so much as I need someone with a lot of Naruto know-how. I'm new(ish) to the series and have only watched the first 150 episodes or so. I've structured the plot to accommodate my lack of knowledge of the actual plotline of the series, but I want to make sure I'm not violating any information about chakra, the shinobi lifestyle... basically, I want to be sure that I'm not trying to do anything that, according to the show, should be impossible. There are a couple of other thing's I'll probably need help with as well, but that's the most important one. For more information on beta editing, please take a look at my profile. My contact information is there, if you're interested.**

**Oh yeah... I don't own Naruto and I don't want anyone to run around killing people because they read about that sort of thing in my story. Killing people in real life is bad. Don't do it. I think I've sloughed off all legal responsibility now. **

**There. I promise I will never write another author's note that long ever again.**

**Kyoki Sakura: Prelude**

In midsummer, the village of Narigama holds a festival to commemorate the death of Taira Yoritomo, the founder and savior of the Taira bloodline. It is said that the sakura trees in the Taira castle courtyard choose to cast off their beauty and shed their petals out of respect for the man who planted them. For this reason, the people of Narigama have come to know this day as Kyoki Sakura: the weeping cherry blossom.

It was on this day, as the air hung heavy with the sweet reek of petals rotting the sun, that Narigama truly learned to weep. Fifty years ago on this day, the Taira bloodline was crucified and left to rot with the corpses of the fools who carried it and those damned flowers whose sweet scent concealed the most telling signs of my mutiny for weeks.

It was on this day, as the air hung heavy with the despair of the dead and dying, that I renounced the humanity I never possessed in exchange for vengeance upon the fools who dared deny me my freedom. Whatever vestige of goodness remained in the blackened void of my soul died that day with the men, women, and children whose blood stained the white-pink blossoms as deeply sanguine as their fruit.

Since that day, I have been alone. There are so few who know freedom from death as I do. So few whom I can regard as comparable to myself. The rest are nothing better than animals. I, Taira Narigama, named for the village and people who destroyed me and whom I have destroyed, know neither death nor time. Only loneliness and the urge to seek another like myself with whom to share eternity.

**Yes, I know it was short... Such is the fate of a prelude. If you take the time to review, I will happily take the time to respond to you in the next chapter. **


	2. Chapter One

**Hey, there have been a couple of changes since I initially posted the fanfic. I made a couple of minor edits the the prelude (just a couple of tiny edits to make it flow better... nothing worth rereading it for), changed the genre from romance/action/adventure to romance/horror (I don't know what I was thinking putting it in action/adventure), and changed the setting of the fic from sometime during the Sasuke retrieval arc to sometime after Orochimaru defected from Akatsuki and before he attacked Konoha.**

**I don't own Naruto. Let's just cross-apply this to all future chapters, shall we? If I somehow manage to buy the rights to the series, I'll let you know.**

**And now, without further ado, I give you... Chapter One**

* * *

"Dai-kun? Is dinner ready yet?"

"Please be patient, Narigama-sama," I replied, taking great care not to pronounce 'sama' lazily and allow it to rhyme with the end of my superiors name, "If I don't let it marinade for long enough it'll taste like shit."

"Fuck the marinade. I'm hungry." Narigama yawned and nested herself against the trunk of a massive conifer. If it was possible to be jealous of a tree, then I was jealous. Horribly, sinfully, damnably jealous.

"Fifteen minutes will make a night and day difference; I promise." I guess I should have taken it as a compliment that my cooking was the only thing that made her impatient, but I was too busy hating that damn tree.

"Hn..." She sat on the branch as though it were a throne and looked down her delicate, upturned nose at me as though she were a queen. "It had better make one hell of a difference, then."

For a long time I didn't look up. Narigama wouldn't appreciate my staring at her, and I knew that if I looked up I would definitely stare. I risked a fleeting glance in her direction under the pretense of smelling my marinade. She was still lounging on the branch, staring intently at the horizon with eyes like jade almonds. I didn't have the right angle to see what it was that she was looking at, but whatever it was it must've been interesting because I watched her for a long time and she didn't move an inch.

"I can't sit around and smell that for another fifteen minutes without wanting to eat a squirrel to tide myself over." She said suddenly as she jumped out of the tree and landed in the leaves without a sound. Even standing, the top of her head was barely as high as my shoulder. She wasn't short... I was just tall. "I'm going for a walk. Be back in fifteen minutes."

And with that, she vanished. The only movement my eyes could follow was the twirl of her hair and even that seemed no more than a whipcrack of black silk to my inadequate eyesight. I had wanted to argue; to point out that by now the fish was only ten minutes from being finished at most and that if she went away for fifteen minutes it would be cold by the time she returned, but Narigama left no room for argument.

* * *

It had been three _excruciating_ days since I'd eaten a decent meal (because I don't count the odd edible mushroom now and then as an actual meal). For Orochimaru-sama it had been only slightly less than that, as I'd given him the fish we'd caught two days ago to preserve his good mood... I didn't want to travel with him if he was out of his mind with hunger. 

Never again would we make the mistake of trying to pack half rations of food and rely on the local wildlife... not when we were traveling this way, anyways. The damp forest harbored little wildlife aside from the giant insects that no doubt preyed upon the occasional squirrel that ventured into their territory. If only we'd known beforehand that this particular forest harbored nothing more edible than dog-sized grasshoppers, then I might at least have brought something to fish with. Regardless of the condition of the forest, The stream should have provided us with plenty to eat but so far we'd had no luck finding anything but the tiny panfish I'd given to Orochimau-sama.

Naturally, then, it should follow that it was I and not he who had snapped at the first whiff of food. Of course, he had followed suit not long afterward when the scent of cooking fish was mingled with that of herbs.

"Kabuto-kun!" came a harsh hiss from behind me, "Is he finished yet?"

I turned to face the source of the hiss, allowing the chakra I'd drawn to my eyes equalize itself throughout my system as I no longer required enhanced vision.

"Forgive me, Orochimaru-Sama. I can't tell." I admitted. Unfortunately, my expertise in the area of cooking was limited to simple, unadorned meats and the occasional vegetable. It was obvious that the man I was watching was applying some sort of glaze to the fish, but I couldn't make anything of that. Did it mean he was done or was glazed applied before cooking? Apparently, Orochimaru was pondering along those same lines. His eyes were distant and he was drumming his fingers on the trunk of the tree we'd perched ourselves in; a sure sign of failed recollection. "I don't know what the sauce means either." I provided casually just as he was about to ask me. It had been an excellent opportunity to show off just how well I knew his mind.

Orochimaru swore softly to himself and continued to survey the giant thug of a man man hunched over a campfire. Truthfully, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. Normally, he would have complimented my perception (or rather he'd have noted it, which, coming from him, meant the same thing), but apparently the only thing on his mind must have been that magnificent glazed fish, big enough to satisfy both of our appetites with rations to spare and cooked to a titillating perfection that made even its scent seem like a piece of heaven topped with crisp native vegetation.

For days after the event that followed, I wracked my limited recollection of of the event, searching in vain for something... _anything_ I had overlooked that might have warned us, but perfect stealth, it would seem, is not as impossible as I had imagined.

"Good evening gentleman." she said.

* * *

**Yay! I have reviews to answer even though my last entry was more author's note than actual story. It's really encouraging to know that people cared enough to review when the entry itself only takes about thirty seconds to read. You guys are awesome!**

**_.X.Artimis.X. -_ Way to go, you're the first reviewer! I'm glad you're interested. I always feel bad when I write those short little prelude things (like I'm wasting a chapter or something) , but I guess you're right. They _do_ get right to the point :)**

_**UnmanlyRoses – **_**Eh... I was only what? Two weeks off? You're sixteen now, so it doesn't matter :P. Besides, the prelude isn't horribly graphic. **

_**Fiore777- **_**Thank you. I love writing the dark stuff, and you'll see a lot more of the prelude-style writing once I start narrating from Orochimaru or Narigama's point of view, which should begin in the next chapter, actually.**

_**Nyctus- **_**(Heh... my word processor keeps trying to change your name to "cactus"... stupid auto-spellcheck) Sweet! I love being on people's fav's list. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ****  
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**Chapter Two should be up and running pretty soon, but first on my to do list is a new summary for this fic that isn't grotesquely cheesy and unoriginal.**


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